Be a Laundry Pro and Never Get Behind On Laundry Again
Let’s talk dirty clothes. We all have them. How about monster piles of laundry, missing socks, and wrinkled clothing?
I feel like I can’t get through the day without somebody asked me what I do to stay on top of laundry in my house. We have a bigger than average family with 5 people. But the people in my family get really dirty.
Let me explain. I have three sons. I don’t think that that needs a whole lot of explanation. Boys are basically just noises with dirt on them. So big messes are just things that we normally have to deal with. Clothes get really dirty in her house. Most of the time, each day I will have a laundry hamper overflowing with laundry that needs to get done.
But I’m never overwhelmed by the laundry! Even with 5 very dirty people needing almost constant clothes to be washed. I’m not worried about it! In fact, the laundry is actually one of my favorite chores to do. And it takes the least amount of time!
Here’s what I do to stay on top of my laundry for my big family.
Always do at least one load per day.
If you can stick to doing at least one load of laundry every single day, you won’t be overwhelmed. After all, doing laundry basically just requires 10 minutes of your time (before folding of course). If you can stick on top of doing at least one load of laundry every day, you can’t really get behind.
if you don’t think that you have enough laundry to do one full load of laundry every day, do each person’s laundry on a different day. I actually prefer to do laundry this way. It makes it easier to put away everybody’s clothing if there is no guessing, especially with kids, who’s laundry pile it belongs in. This really makes everything a lot easier.
Do laundry on one day each week.
I have found that sometimes when I do get behind, it’s just easier to do an entire day where the washing machine and dryer never stop running. After traveling especially, this is something that we always do. If I ever do get behind, this is exactly what I do. I will typically sort the laundry per person and do each person’s clothes individually so that I can still fold them and put them away really easily. Sometimes it’s just best to go with the flow and it’s overwhelming.
Schedule a different category every day.
On top of the typical everyday laundry, each day you could do a different category. Meaning you could do towels on Tuesday and Rags on Wednesday and sheets on Thursday… You get what I’m saying. This also helps to make sure that all of the other items in your house like towels and Dish rags and sheets all get cleaned when they need to be.
No matter what system you go with…Always fold your clothes immediately!
Why should you do this? Well, first off it’s easier so that you can do another load of laundry if you need to right away, but it’s also better for the clothing. If you leave the clothes in the dryer and they get cool, we’ll get wrinkly. And nobody wants to have to iron clothes that could have been not wrinkled if you would just put them away immediately.
Yes, I know folding stinks. I know it stinks even more? Ironing ALL of your kids’ T-shirts because they’re wrinkly. Not just your Sunday shirts… but actual t-shirts.
Have an activity that you do while you’re holding.
Especially on a gigantic day of washing, the last thing you want to do is fold the clothes. I know. I really get it. But something that makes it more bearable is to have a fun activity to do while you’re folding.
A lot of times, I will catch up on my favorite Netflix shows well I’m folding clothes. Sometimes if I want to involve my children, will turn on music. And, if they’re really good during the week, on Fridays will watch a movie while we fold clothes. Yes I know, I’m the meanest mom ever.
You don’t have to wash your towels after every use.
I didn’t realize this, but there are a lot of people who won’t reuse towels. I had no idea that people were so uncomfortable with that. But the reality of it is that you can probably even go an entire week if you hang your towel up to drive properly, without having to wash your towel.
I mean, think about it. You are getting out of the shower and you are clean. That’s the only time that you use a towel. Of course, the important thing here to remember is that you need to make sure that you are hanging it up so that I can dry completely in between uses. The last thing anybody wants is for towels to smell mildewy! But if that does happen, when you wash your towels, put in a cup of white vinegar. It gets rid of smell, and makes them fluffier!
Involve the kids.
Once again, I’m the meanest mom ever! I make my kids help fold the laundry! It is a crazy idea apparently and I don’t care. I didn’t make the mess all on my own, and they know this. Whether it is cleaning up their toys or cleaning up their clothes, they know that they have to help out. These are things that they’re supposed to do to help. They know that, and they help without complaining (most of the time! But who wants to fold laundry anyway?!).
Stop losing socks.
Get a lingerie bag for each laundry basket in the house. I like the lingerie bags with the snap wristlet. I attach these to each person’s hamper and each time socks need to get washed, they go right into the bags. I don’t know about you, but constantly losing socks gets old really quickly! Best $1 investment ever! (Ok, maybe not ever… but you get the point!)
The biggest thing to take away here is to have a routine and to stick to it! I know that it can be done, since I’ve seen the worst person with laundry get it together by sticking to this routine… it was me. 😉
Do you want to see where laundry day fits into my 1-chore-a-day cleaning routine? Check it out HERE.
What do you do to keep your laundry under control?
These are great tips. My wife does a batch of dirty laundry everyday. She said that it’s easier for her to do that than do everything once every week. As with the socks, I don’t know about socks and why they keep on getting lost. But yes, my wife has a small section in our laundry just to place all the dirty socks.
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What is it about socks, Allan?! I’m a weirdo and I love doing laundry… maybe because you just throw it in, press a button and BAM! It’s clean!
With only four people in my family, I don’t have enough laundry to do a load every day. I tend to do categories. Sometimes I can get two loads done in one day, sometimes not. My system gets all messed up in the summer when I work around the weather so I can line dry outside. I love mesh bags! Right now my 4yr old and my 2 month old have obviously different socks so they use the same one. Once they have similar socks I plan on tying different color ribbons to their bags so I can tell them apart easily. #Titus2Tuesday
That’s a great idea, Julie! My sons are the same way for now, I can tell their socks apart. But soon enough, they’ll need their own little lingerie bags for the washer!
Thanks for these tips! I only have 2 boys, but I find myself getting overwhelmed with laundry pretty often. I think I really need to get on a good schedule!
Thanks, Stefani!
I usually do at least one load a day and if we have piles of laundry I’ll easily run the washer and dryer non- stop for a day. Each of my three sons have their own hamper in their room and I do their laundry separately when their hampers are full (it makes folding and sorting go so much faster!). Plus having four separate hampers makes the laundry piles seem much more manageable.
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We have three in our family. We do a load every day even tho it’s not a full load. Who says the load has to be full? ?We throw in the towels with the normal clothes every so often.
And we definitely don’t fold. OMGoodness you must fold a lot. We hang all shirts. Shorts go in one bucket. Pants in another. (we don’t have dressers.) any wrinkles in our shorts/pants are gone by the time we are out the door just from our body heat, but most of our shorts/pants are denim or other thick material so they don’t really get wrinkles from not being folded. If you cut down on the number of shirts you own or create more hanging rod space with curtain rods you will never have to fold again. What a time saver that would be for you!